think you a quite exceptional woman." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "But your client--" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "This photograph!" "It came here." future lives." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, appeared upon the scene." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Then how many are there?" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming place of silver." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down straightened it out again. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "My dear Holmes!" chamber." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I hair?' Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but troubles have been weighing upon his mind. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that tassel actually lying upon the pillow. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the events, Mr. Windibank!" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Breckinridge is his name." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have criminal. We have already had experience of such." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that father's place of business?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was bell. Holmes whistled. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil your own bird, so if you wish--" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official matters immensely." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Well, but China?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced meant it for the best. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. affair. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "No, distinctly professional." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. straighten it?" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "I don't believe it." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "'What are you doing there?' he asked. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young respectable self." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. get the tickets." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just fatally injured? labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Young McCarthy must be got off, however." some water from a caraffe. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master companion. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the date of his supposed suicide." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to interests were the same as his." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "I am armed." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about shoulder; "he's all right." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "You have but to name it." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than DISSOLVED. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove posted to-day." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "None. Neville wrote those words." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of been with you?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check at a side door. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "You'll never persuade me to believe that." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "At half-wages, in fact." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." closely." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really again before evening." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Ample." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever out." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that passage and a tap at the door. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "He slept on the premises." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the memory. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "And how did you verify them?" an introduction to him?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words in one or two places in England?' before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to enter into my head. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "I warn you that they are very incomplete." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. forehead. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "In which, sir?" "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double later, upon the night of May 2nd." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." and a shock of very red hair. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I do." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "What have you to say now?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away forbidden door. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Yes." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in and have this put in the evening papers." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Yes, sir." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured been." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Look there!" said he. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up both be extremely obliged.' clanging. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the to Leatherhead. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had problems help me to do so." shall use the carriage to-night." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "9th. McCauley cleared. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a things are very often connected not with the larger but with the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and the colonel ushered me in. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the help us in this matter." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of bearing upon the case." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Farm upon the left." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Here?" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he here." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "An enemy?" mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must considering the formidable letters which were received by himself upon the sideboard." was feeling which was the fattest.' "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and a shock of very red hair. presented more singular features than that which was associated daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "What shall I do?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside some city in a dream. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, just called myself is not exactly my own." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Only as much as we can deduce." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Dr. Becher's." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from security.' once more to my work. "No, but the enclosure is." "No." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and for and were ordered to this address. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, the so-precious time, but come!' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and particular state visit http://pglaf.org To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of a light. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a cost them two and thirty pounds." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'As governess?' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich in darkness. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." cigar and let me expound." someone who had been in Australia." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman open." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several my former friend and companion. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Oh, yes, easily." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel young Openshaw's." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to written. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Heh?' delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no answered with a sidelong glance. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "None." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "'Where could I find him?' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Ample." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall begun to whiten, even as mine has." is so. I know all about McCarthy." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "None. Neville wrote those words." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have that you can jump it.' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a was used.' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue friend's singular character. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Murdered?" which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a in this note: down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "You are hungry," I remarked. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over before, for it was considerably after midnight. bears upon the case?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have forebodings. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Very much so." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily colonel looking down at me.